No Justice
by DMB
Summary: Underneath the sugar-coating of the Republic of the Sphere


October 11, 3089, An-Wa County, Liao, Republic space...  
  
Someone was knocking. "Honey, will you get that?" Sandra Te said, rolling over. "Sure..." her husband, Michael, got up to answer the door. Sandra listened dreamily- then she sat up.  
  
The door closed, but Michael did not come back.  
  
She looked outside, and saw a Republic Army staff-car pull out of the driveway. what's going on?? she wondered.  
  
Then, their son began to cry....  
  
Later that day, the movers came-escorted by Military Police in Cavalier Battle armour. There was an official there, with signed papers- papers accepting relocation to Outreach.  
  
"But... but Michael wouldn't-" she said, reading the documents. "He's waiting for you at the spaceport, ma'am. you should pack a day bag now, your things will reach you a few days after your arrival." the Official said.  
  
Sandra put her hands on her hips, "Listen, buster, this farm has been in my family for seven-hundered years. I don't care what my husband signed-" one of the MP's casually placed a battle-armoured glove around the head of her oldest, Kelly, who just shivered and whimpered. "Pack a bag, ma'am, and one for each of your children-we wouldn't want anything to happen to them, would we." His voice was monotone through the suit's speakers.  
  
Sandra's eyes went wide. "Kelly-" she said, and reached out- only to find the muzzle of the suit's machinegun in her face, the bore a pit into oblivion. "Your child will be fine out here-as long as you cooperate quietly." The official said.  
  
Sandra dropped her arms and went inside to pack-what else could she do..?  
  
The soldiers helped her load her bags onto the bus that arrived-filled with families from the district-families like hers. but where are the men? she wondered silently.  
  
The driver's compartment was isolated from the passengers by a partition. "Where are we going, mommy?" Kelly asked.  
  
"We're going to the spaceport, and then on a long trip." Sandra said sadly.  
  
Kelly, aged twelve, looked out the windows of the bus-she'd been to the port with her daddy to meet with buyers before.  
  
"Mom... this isn't the way to the spaceport!" she said.  
  
An-Wa County, Liao, December 13, 3102...  
  
Dex Janssen was what it said on his passport, and Gudrie Petrochem was what it said on the crew's equipment, but those were just covers, supplied at great expense, by CorpSec. "Okay, guys... fire it up." he stepped back behind the truck, as a series of small charges spread in a specific pattern on this tract went off. On the screen set up in the back of the truck, a seismic-ultrasound of the valley floor was processed into imagery.  
  
"Jesus Christ..." he said. The images were jumbled together, about four meters below the surface-but they were definitely there. "Jackpot. Allen, get the core-drills ready, it looks like our friends' tip was on-the- money." 'Allen' picked up a tripod-mounted core-sampler, and placed it where Dex pointed. "Run it here, carefullly... we need to get samples the lab boys can read..."  
  
The machine-built on Kowloon in the Lyran Commonwealth, ran quietly and without indications of trouble.  
  
Hours later...  
  
Dex finished sifting the organics, and started the long process of testing. "God, I hope I'm wrong... " he said under his breath. "Maybe, but the site's dead-on where it's supposed to be-and we've got skull-bits here..." Jan Huyn said from the next table over. Dex looked up, "Yeah, but I still hope these don't test out- I mean, the locals just let us come out here..."  
  
She shrugged, "Maybe they don't know?" she asked.  
  
He shook his head, "You saw the damned echogram, how could they not know..."  
  
She shrugged... "We'll see, maybe it's just where they were dumping cattle bits for a few years..."  
  
He sighed, and slid the prepared samples into the spectrometer. "I hope you're right."  
  
Ten Hours later, Dex's worst nightmares were confirmed.  
  
"Human, aged ten to twelve, dead about fourteen years, that's sample one. We've got about two hundered different individuals here, about half are under ten, and the bulk of the adults are female, all dead about the same amount of time." Allen said it flatly-his DNA tests were Clanner-Flawless, as would be expected from a former Jade-Falcon. "You're sure?" Dex asked. Allen nodded, "As sure as humanly possible- you realize we've got samples from maybe two percent of this site?"  
  
Dex nodded.  
  
Jan looked thoughtful- "hey, wasn't there some kind of 'relocation' programme running about that time around here?" she asked.  
  
Dex nodded again, "That's why we're here-the boss got a request from someone in the CapCon's Financial bureau, seems he can't find his relatives or something, so CorpSec set up a little fishing expedition, and we're it, that's why we're looking for Petrol reserves on the side..."  
  
Allen frowned, "I found some other compounds in that dirt- i'm running a couple of tests... but it looks like we've found a mass-grave, if this gets out..."  
  
Dex nodded, "yeah, we found it, now we have to get the info out of the system...what do you think you've found, Al?"  
  
The big Scientist glared into nothingness, "Nothing much, just... I'll need to talk to Renner, but it looks like..." he shook his head and went silent.  
  
The team packed up their equipment, loaded onto the trucks, and crossed the plot off their maps. "Low Probability" was noted, and they headed to the next scheduled stop.  
  
"Why kill the women and kids?" Jan asked. Dex shrugged, "Easier to make people disappear in families, than to have folks asking awkward questions." he said, adding, "there's probably records showing those folks, whoever they were, disembarked on whatever world they were supposed to be relocating to, whereupon they just...up and disappeared. Back then, that kind of thing happened all the time. Things were still pretty hectic back then, it wouldn't be hard to presume someone up and left without registering..." the truck rumbled down the roadway to the 'port.  
  
Sian, Capellan Confederation, August 21, 3104...  
  
"Celestial Wisdom, the information you gave me has been correllated with the information my crews uncovered on Liao, it's time to pay up." Amanda Ngo said it with growl of restrained fury.  
  
"Duchess Ngo, I know you ache to take this public, but... it is not your concern. It is mine, and it belongs to the Capellan people-we are not yet ready to take our revenge for the atrocity your agents uncovered, the time is not... fortuitous to strike." The Chancellor said it formally, but his fist clenched and unclenched. Amanda frowned, "This could collapse their alliances..."  
  
He shook his head, "No, it would not-Most of the other Governments would refuse to believe it-even from an independent source such as yourself, the rest, particularly the Davions and your own Lyran government, would simply say 'Good riddance to bad rubbish', or 'nits make lice'. Maskirovka has managed to identify most of the samples your crew has taken, from records kept here and in the CCAF defense ministry. The appropriate families will be notified when we have finished our preparations, please, be wise, do not interfere directly- your presence here is enough of a threat, and you are not as free as your mother was to deal with whom you choose." he then waved his left hand, like a magic trick, "Please go back to your world-your accounts will be credited with the agreed-upon amounts."  
  
Amanda left the chamber with a sigh.  
  
The Customer's information must be held confidential... her mother's voice in her mind reminded her.  
  
Yeah, but this... jesus, he's cold about it... kids... they killed the frippin' kids... her head swam with what-ifs and why-fors all the way to the spaceport, where her shuttle waited to take her home again.  
  
The Capellans are patient, and they've got long memories-whatever they do, it'll be misunderstood by everyone else... damn it, why can't I take this public???  
  
She rubbed her temples.  
  
Because I signed a contract and Ngo Industries always honours its contracts... even when we know the customer's going to cut their own throats...  
  
Amanda decided she would be glad to return to Kowloon, where people were, at least, sensible. 


End file.
